PHL in Venice Biennale Docu Airs on September 27

The first documentary about the Philippines’ return to the Venice Biennale after five decades of absence will be aired this week on ABSCBN News Channel (ANC).

“How To Tie A String Around The World” will be aired on September 27, 2017, 8:00 p.m. and on September 30, 2017, 11:30 a.m.

“The documentary narrates how the idea to return to the world’s oldest and most prestigious contemporary art platform was conceived, the mounting and the successful opening of the comeback pavilion, and the warm reception it received. It also provides explanation from the curator and artists themselves on how they developed their concept and works,” said Senator Loren Legarda, the visionary and driving force behind the Philippines’ successful comeback in the Venice Biennale in 2015, 51 years after its first participation.

The documentary was created by Manny Montelibano, who was also one of the participating artists in the country’s participation in 2015.

The Philippine Pavilion at the 2015 Venice Art Biennale, Tie A String Around The World, was curated by Dr. Patrick Flores of the University of the Philippines Vargas Museum, and featured the late national artists Manuel Conde and Carlos Francisco’s film Genghis Khan, Montelibano’s multi-channel video A Dashed State, and Jose Tence Ruiz’s installation titled Shoal.

Legarda said that all the other Philippine pavilions would also have their own documentaries. In 2016, the Philippines’ first national pavilion for the Venice Architecture Biennale featured the curatorial concept, Muhon: Traces of an Adolescent City, by Leandro Locsin Jr., Sudarshan Khadka Jr., and Juan Paolo de la Cruz of Leandro V. Locsin Partners (LVLP). This year, for the 2017 Venice Art Biennale, the curatorial concept of Joselina Cruz, The Spectre of Comparison, is the Philippine Pavilion, which is now located in the Arsenale, one of the main exhibition spaces of the Venice Biennale.

The Philippines’ participation in the Venice Biennale is a collaboration by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), and the Office of Senator Loren Legarda, with the support of the Department of Tourism (DOT).